Vice President Leni Robredo said she supports the plea of the Comelec to restore the provision in the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines, which prohibits campaigning long before the election period sets in.

Office of the Vice President

Robredo supports Comelec’s call vs premature campaigning

(Philstar.com) - November 7, 2018 - 2:35pm

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday urged the Congress to heed the call of the Commission on Elections to immediately pass bills reviving prohibition of premature campaigning by political candidates.

In a statement, Robredo said she supports the plea of the Comelec to restore the provision in the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines, which prohibits campaigning long before the election period sets in.

She stressed the Supreme Court decision in 2009, which ruled that campaigning before the prescribed campaign period was no longer an offense, led to numerous electioneering even a year before the actual polls.

Last week, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez issued an appeal to the Congress to “pass the premature campaigning amendment [already]” after the poll body received reports of individuals who have filed certificates of candidacy engaging in campaigning several months before the start of the campaign period.

Under Republic Act 9369, a person seeking elective position is considered a candidate only once the campaign period commences.

Criminalize premature campaigning

The Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, in its committee report filed October 18, recommended the “criminalization” of premature campaigning by political candidates.

“A person shall be considered a candidate the moment he files his certificate of candidacy within the period provided by the Commission on Elections,” the report of Senate Bill 2064 said.

With this, any form of partisan political activity by a candidate prior to the filing of COC or way before the start of the official campaign period will be considered “premature campaigning” and therefore unlawful. — Gaea Katreena Cabico

Before President Rodrigo Duterte left Thursday for his one-on-one with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, he promised to “invoke” the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague that resolved some maritime disputes between the two neighbors.

Eight warships, four aircraft and more than a thousand personnel from the US and ten Southeast Asian countries will join maritime drills kicking off Monday, as part of a joint exercise extending into the flashpoint South China Sea.

China has rejected as “unwelcome” the call of the United Kingdom, France and Germany on the South China Sea claimants to respect the arbitration ruling of 2016 and the rules-based framework laid out in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).